Miami-Dade Police homicide investigators worked well into the evening after the home, located in the area of Southwest 253rd Street and 132nd Avenue, turned into the scene of a gruesome crime.

Hours earlier, police said, the children’s father had made the deadly discovery. “The father of the children came home, and he found his two children and his ex-wife deceased from apparent gunshot wounds,” said Miami-Dade Police Detective Argemis Colome.

Investigators said the fatal shots were fired some time before 12:30 p.m. The young victims were an 8-year-old girl and her 18-month-old brother.

Police say it appears the 29-year-old mother shot the girl and the toddler before turning the gun on herself.

“The preliminary investigation is indicating that this is possibly a murder-suicide,” said Colome.

The father spent hours with detectives answering questions about his kids and his ex-wife.

“I actually had to take a moment and cry,” said a neighbor who didn’t want to show her face to cameras. “because I can’t fathom the thought of harming my kids in any way.”

The area resident said she had seen the family around the neighborhood and had heard arguing coming from the house, but never imagined anything like this.

The bodies were removed from the home late Friday, but the big question remains: Why would a mother murder her own children and then take her own life?

“Like, now to hear the ages of the kids, and to even know that it’s actual kids that got harmed, it’s just sad,” said neighbor Mykhale Rivera.

Police said they most will likely release the name of the mother sometime on Saturday.